Journey to Amestris
by Dommo
Summary: It was not my intention to become a state sanctioned assassin, but then again it wasn't my intetion to end up in a world where Alchemy was actually real either. This is my story...
1. Chapter 1

**Journey to Amestris**

My name is Dominic Moreau, and I am a United States marine recon sniper, and this is the story of how I, through circumstances beyond my control, ended up in world beyond my own. This is my story.

**Chapter 1**

_March 20__th__, 2003 0400 hours local time, near Nasiriyah Iraq_

It was a cool morning, and I had been in place for nearly 24 hours, in the ruins of Ur, one of the many ancient Mesopotamian cities that had dotted the shorelines of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. My spotter Lance Corporal Eric Rivers laid along side me, as we were supposed to be observing the troop movements of the Iraqis.

I was starting to get stiff, and having not slept, or moved for 36 hours, was becoming exhausted, and to tell you the truth these ruins were creeping me out. Something just didn't feel right about this place. It was then that my spotter tapped me.

"Dom, I think we're in some shit." Eric said.

I looked over in towards his direction, as we were literally squeezed between a collapsed wall and pillar, and crawled over him to take a look. I could see what appeared to be a small convoy of Iraqi army vehicles approaching.

"Ah fuck. This is bad. I think they are planning on using these ruins as a firebase." I replied as I looked through my night vision binoculars.

"Do you see those mortars on those trucks Dom. The army when it comes down this road is going to be in serious danger if they manage to position themselves here. They've got a perfect place to shoot from up here, it's easy to defend, and the area around the road has no cover at all. It'd be shooting fish in a barrel." Eric explained.

It was then that I knew things were going to get hairy. I immediately tried to get on the radio to contact my higher ups, and let them know the situation here, but all I could get was static. The damned Iraqis must have had one of those Russian radio jammers, assumingly to protect them from GPS guided bombs.

"Eric, we're gonna have to try to shoot it out with them. Go and set the claymores at the approaches where the Iraqi trucks can come into the ruins. We need to disable those mortars. This is will be ugly, as there is at least a platoon of Iraqis coming up here." I said.

"It's useless for us me to snipe them from here, as they'd know immediately where we were and simply blow us away with mortars. We're going to have to do this up close and dirty, hopefully before any of them are able to get out of the trucks." I continued.

Eric simply nodded, and took off running to the approach that the Iraqis were going to get to in about 5 minutes. While he was doing that, I was prepping up the rest of our gear for the assault, all the while hoping that I might be blessed with a painless death. I was frightened, but I knew what had to be done, not for my sake, but for all of my comrades who were going to be coming down that road in a matter of a few hours.

_5 minutes later_

The vehicles approached the Ur ruins from the north, and we set up our firing position behind what was left of an ancient citadel of crumbling mud brick wall. Ahead of us was a small plaza, and between the remnants of the walls of the ancient city ruins was the route that trucks would have to take. It was there that one of the claymores was set. The other mine was set in the plaza. I had the detonator in my hand, that would trigger the mines, but I wanted to wait until all of the trucks were in the city before using up the mines.

As the rumbling of the trucks grew louder, I took a deep breath and waited for the four vehicles to approach. The first one was in, and my heart pounded louder. Wait for it Dommo, wait for it… The second… The third… The last… They're almost in position in

5, … 4, …3, …2 …1 . KABOOOM!

The mines exploded and tore through the first and last trucks filling them hundreds of ball bearings. Eric fired his M203 grenade launcher and it blew a 3rd truck away. I could hear the screams of dying men as they were disemboweled by the flying shrapnel, and could see that at least a third of the enemy were dead or wounded. I then started systematically firing rifle, killing all who I saw. But there were too many. The firefight, which likely took perhaps 5 minutes, felt like an eternity. All the while, I could feel the concussion of Eric's M16 firing near me, and the heat of an RPG fly over my head and demolish a section of brick wall behind us. My ears were ringing, when I crouched up and signaled Eric to fall back farther into the ancient fortress.

My mind raced as we fled farther into the ruins, by this time the Iraqi's were setting up the remaining mortar that was undamaged, and started to lob shells at us as we fled. The first few were pretty far off, but as they got their aim calibrated, the shells got closer and closer, it was then that a shell landed near Eric and I, and I felt the ground go out from under me.

I then remember falling into darkness as Eric and I plunged down a hole in the ground. We must have tumbled perhaps 25 to 30 feet down the steep embankment, and as we fell, another mortar landed near by causing the remnants of nearby wall to seal us inside of what at the time appeared to be our grave.

"Eric, are you there man?" I yelled, my ears still ringing. "Eric?!" I shouted again.

I heard a soft moaning somewhere in the darkness, and I pulled out my small flashlight, and stood up, still wobbly from the affect the explosions had on my ears. I started to sweep the room with my flashlight, and saw Eric lying on his back in the middle of a large etched symbol on a smooth stone floor. He was missing his right arm at the elbow, and his legs were riddled with shrapnel, and a pool of blood started to expand around him filling up the shallow grooves of the symbol in grotesque red, as he lay there he was staring at the ceiling with glassed over look in his blue eyes.

"Eric, I'm coming man, I'm here." I said.

I stumbled over to him, gradually sizing up the room, as I made the 30 foot journey to him. The room appeared to be some sort of ceremonial chamber, as I could see a nearby altar, while I swung my flashlight around, and could see murals that looked as if they were new, so well preserved this chamber was. These strange murals all portrayed some strange opened black doorway with eyes looking back, and they definitely gave me the willies.

I stepped over the circular symbol's blood filled edge, and knelt next to Eric. He turned his head toward me, and gurgled to me "Dom, I'm dying… I don't want to die, not in this dark place." I held his unwounded hand and told him "You're not going to die my friend, I won't let it happen." I felt that the ground next to him with my free hand, and I found strange indentation, that was hand shaped, between the blood filled grooves. I placed my hand in the indentation, and felt an immediate pain, as my hand was sliced open. I looked down at the groove, and saw what appeared to be a thin blade in the palm of the hand shape, and as my blood settled in the bottom, something strange happened.

An unearthly pale red light started to shine up through the symbol that was beneath and surrounding us, and it gradually intensified illuminating the room, as the symbol took on appearance of white-hot steel. As I looked around frantically I could see the murals in more details, and the eyes in the gates started glowing, and then all of the sudden I felt the room shudder, and out of the ground on the altar, the black gate the murals portrayed arose.

I looked in horror as the doors in the black gate portrayed in the mural, swung open, and I saw those eyes again. It was then that I heard a voice that to this day still gives me nightmares.

"The price has been paid" The voice seemed to reverberate through the chamber, in a low bass that shook me to my soul.

Then with lightning speed, black tentacles, grabbed Eric and I, and as it did this, I saw Eric literally start to disintegrate as a white light appeared to deconstruct him, I was then yanked into the gate amongst the murmuring eyes. All the while, I struggled fanatically, and then everything turned to blackness and that's all I remember.

When I finally came to, I was on my back staring up at a sunny sky in the middle of a field, with mine and Eric's gear, and Eric's bloody clothes in small pile next to me. I sat up and searched around me for Eric, but he was nowhere to be found. It was at that moment that I gasped in horror, as I understood what the voice had meant when it said "The price has been paid". The price the voice mentioned must have been Eric. Oh god I just used my friend in a human sacrifice.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!" I screamed, and I broke down, as I knew I had inadvertently killed my friend by accidentally calling forth that black gate.

I must have been on my knees crying in that field for the better part of an hour, and then as noon approached, I finally managed to pull myself together. I gathered all of the equipment that Eric and I had, and grabbed his bloody clothes. I walked over to a nearby oak tree at the edge of the field and dug a small hole with my trench spade, and buried his clothes there. I then took out my K-bar knife, and carved into the tree.

Here lies L. Cpl Eric Rivers

U.S. Marine, friend, and patriot

May 7, 1980-March 20, 2003

I said a prayer for him that day, and I do every year at the same time, in his memory. I then picked up the gear, strapped Eric's M16 over my right shoulder, my Sniper rifle over the other one, put my helmet on, adjusted my body armor, and started walking towards a road that was at the far end of the field.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_March 20__th__ around noon in god knows where_

As I walked onto the dirt and gravel road, I could tell that I was not in Iraq anymore. If anything it looked like some place in Europe, with farm fields and gently rolling hills, and mountains way off in the distance. It was truly a beautiful day. Not too warm, but not cold either, perfect for walking.

What I did find curious however was that I didn't really notice any tracks in the road that would pertain to motorized vehicles. It seemed like the only tracks I really saw were those that might be on a wagon, as well as the tracks from horse hooves. This confused me, as I didn't know of any European country where people still traveled around by horse and buggy. But honestly I wasn't overly concerned. I had my identification on me, and had the gold coins that US government issued to Special Forces units (which Marine Recon is considered), so I felt like things were actually not that bad all things considered. Hell, I could have still been stuck inside of that chamber to die a slow death in a dark hole.

I continued walking, and I could see farm houses in the distance, apparently the field I landed in must have been fallow this year, as most of the other fields nearby were tilled up for the spring planting. As the afternoon wore on, I had probably walked maybe 5 more miles, when I reached a fork in the road. It had arrows pointing to 3 different towns, all separated by some unknown unit of distance, but the numbers were apparently Arabic numbers just like I was familiar with, so I simply took the road to the closer town, known as Resembool, which was surprisingly in English.

I had never heard of Resembool, but I didn't really care at the time, all I wanted to do was find a nearby place of residence that looked like it might have a phone. So I kept on walking, and occasionally spotted a farmer way working way out in his fields, but other then that things were pretty quiet, just the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze, and the sounds of birds.

Eventually I saw a sign on the road side that said Rockbell automail. I had no idea what automail was, but I assumed it must be a post office of some sort, so I made my way up the dirt "drive way" if it could be called that and walked the quarter mile to the house at the top of the hill. I figured if it was a business then perhaps it would have a telephone of some kind, given that this area almost looked like an Amish community given the lack of technology I'd seen on my walk. The sun was starting to set by then, so I was a bit concerned that who ever ran the business might not answer the door when I came up, but I was surprised to see young woman come out to greet me at the porch of the house. This girl was particularly striking, perhaps in her late teens, with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hello. My name is Gunnery Sergeant Dominic Moreau, of the United States Marine Corps; could the owner of this business by chance help me?" I said in my most courteous voice, hell for all I know they don't even speak English here.

"I'd like to know where I am, as well as the date, as I seem to be lost." I continued.

As I approached the porch the girl apparently became a bit uncomfortable.

"Don't come any closer. I didn't see your weapons when you approached, as those strange clothes made you difficult see, and I don't serve soldiers." She said.

"I don't have any desire to hurt you; I simply want to know where I am, when I am, and how I can return home." I answered.

"You're serious aren't you? You really don't know where you are?" She said incredulously.

"Well, to answer you're questions, Sergeant, you are in the country of Amestris, near the city of Resembool, and the date is March 20, 1924. As to your last question, I've never heard of America, so I couldn't tell you how to get home." She continued.

At hearing this I nearly dropped over. I had never heard of Amestris, and the date couldn't be right unless they used a different calendar in this country.

"Are you serious that the year is 1924? How is that possible, the year is or was 2003, before I traveled through the black gate?" I answered.

"You traveled through the black gate? Are you an alchemist?" She answered with that sort of skeptical look in her eyes.

"ED!!! AL!!! COME OUT HERE, THERE IS A MILITARY ALCHEMIST ASKING STRANGE QUESTIONS!" She shouted.

Before I could respond, two young men around the same age as the blond woman, came out to the porch, one a fairly short man perhaps 5 feet 3 inches in height, with blond hair and metal limbs, the other appeared to be his brother who was roughly around 6 feet tall with sandy brown hair.

"And who might you be?" The short one said mockingly.

"My name is Gunnery Sergeant Dominic Moreau, of the United States Marine Corps." I replied.

"Wait a second, are you serious? The United States if I remember correctly is on the other side of the gate in the world without alchemy. How did you get here? I thought that the way to Amestris was sealed after the Thule society tried to invade a few years ago?" He shockingly answered.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really know what happened. I was in a battle in some ancient ruins, when an explosion caused my comrade and I to fall into an underground chamber. A following explosion sealed us in. When I turned on my flashlight, my comrade who was seriously wounded landed in the center of this peculiar symbol on the floor, and his blood filled the grooves that that made up the symbol. When I went to assist him, I set my hand in this hand shaped indentation that cut my hand, and some of my blood ran down and settled in the indentation. Then all hell broke loose. The floor started to glow red, and this black gate appeared. A voice then said "The price has been paid", and with that I could see eyes in the gate, and I was pulled in along with my comrade Eric. I then blacked out, and when I woke up, I was lying in some farmer's field perhaps 10 miles from here all alone, I think the gate claimed Eric." I explained.

"I can tell by the way you look that you aren't lying, somehow you managed to activate a transmutation circle that summoned the gate, which shouldn't be possible in your world. Is Hitler still trying to lead the Thule society back here to Amestris?" The short man answered sternly.

"You've got to be kidding right. Hitler has been dead for nearly 60 years. It was the year 2003, when I encountered the gate, and from what your young lady friend told me, it's 1924. That can't be right." I said.

"It is correct; however time does not pass at the same rate as it does on your world as it does in Amestris, and given the power of the gate, it's hard to say when you might be in a particular place. By the way, my name is Edward Elric the Full Metal Alchemist, and this is my brother Alphonse, and you've already met Winry Rockbell." Ed replied in a friendly manner.

"So in a nutshell, I'm not in the world I'm familiar with, and there is basically no real hope of getting back?" I asked.

"I'd say that's a fairly accurate description of the situation that you're in. Heck you're lucky you ran into us, because many folks fear the people from your world after they nearly succeeded in invading this world. However, given the situation you're in, and having been there myself, if it's ok with Winry and Pinako, I'm going to see if you can stay here." Ed told me in a sympathetic tone.

Ed then took everyone back inside the house and must have convinced them of my situation. They came back out, and Ed told me to come in. I walked up the porch and entered, and met a nice old lady who must have been Pinako. I still felt a bit of shock, after learning my situation, but I figured that it could always be worse, and hell I didn't really have much in the way of family back home, so if I was stuck here maybe it wasn't so bad.

After coming in, I took off weapons and left them leaning on the wall by the door, and stripped off my vest and helmet, and set the rest of my gear down. I could smell something cooking, as I must have caught everybody just before dinner. I was starving, not having eaten anything but an MRE in the past 48 hours, I was willing to gorge on anything. After getting all of my possessions in order, I followed the group into the dining room for a meal.

"So tell me Dominic, is it okay to call you Dominic? Anyway, has much changed on your world since 1923?" Ed asked me.

"I guess you could say that is an understatement. If you came to my world it wouldn't be recognizable." I answered.

Alphonse sat down across from me and asked "What about the Thule society? Do they still exist?"

"The Thule society, as far as I know, died with the Nazis at the end of the second world war. So I don't think you have anything to fear from them." I replied.

"That's good to know." Alphonse answered.

As this was going on, Alphonse and Edward were asking me all sorts of questions about the Second World War, and about how things were different when I left. I actually felt fortunate that I was a bit of a history buff so that I could answer the multitude of questions, and eventually they worked their way to the topic of Nuclear Weapon.

Ed asked me this, and I told him the truth, that they had been used twice in war, and since then haven't been used, although they have been used to threaten. By this point I was starting to get tired of the interrogation, and was ready to eat, when I looked around, and back in the parlor where my equipment was sitting, I saw Winry digging through it. She was obviously enthralled by some of the things I had in there, and was looking at my night vision goggles.

"Ohhh…. I want to know what it does, and how it works, please let me take it apart." She begged.

"Well, I'll tell you what it does, but you definitely won't be taking it apart. Those are night vision goggles, which can also see body heat. In effect it lets me see in the dark, which as a marine is very helpful in night battles." I answered her truthfully.

"Ooooooo…. Can I try them? Pretty please." Winry put on her puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, it's a good thing you guys have electricity, and that I might be able to recharge the batteries with the equipment I've got, otherwise it'd be out of the question. I guess we can do a demonstration." I told her, and I walked over and took the goggles from her.

"Okay, the first thing is to turn them on, which you do by pressing this button. Then you simply put them on, and you can see out of them in nearly complete darkness. You can also zoom in and out, sort of like looking through a telescope, so that you can see objects that are at further distance." I lectured.

Winry took the goggles from me went out on the porch and looked around, and squealed with glee. "They really do work, I can see all the way over to where Ed and Al's house use to be."

I told her to comeback and hand them to me. She reluctantly did so, and I turned them off and put them back in my rucksack. Pinako then called out to let everyone know it was time to eat. Everyone went back into the dining room where I then proceeded to gorge on the stew that was being served.

I thanked Pinako for the meal, and being physically exhausted after having gone almost two days without sleep asked where I could bunk down, and she told me to follow her to one of the guest rooms. It was a pretty small room, but at that point, anything looked fantastic, and as the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers. So I dragged all of my equipment into the room, stripped down to my skivvies, and was out before my head hit the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_March 21__st__ roughly 8am at the Rockbell's_

I woke up that morning to the smell of food. Being hungry again, I got my clothes back on and made my to the dining room. There I saw Ed, and Al already there eating, Winry was no where to be seen, and I had no clue as to the whereabouts of Pinako. Seeing me the Ed and Al greeted me and told me to pull up a chair. I had just settled in when I heard a knock at the front door.

"Dominic, you better hide. Go back through the kitchen, and head to Winry's workshop." Ed whispered.

"I've got to assume that someone may have gotten a good look at you and notified the authorities, if that's the case I can't let them find you, or you will probably be ferried off to Central and who knows what might happen." Ed continued.

I had never really noticed Ed's prosthetic limbs before, but he wasn't fully dressed, so I could see what appeared to be a steel limb and it simply astounded me in its functionality. Not trying to gawk, I nodded, and quietly made my way to Winry's workshop, while I saw Al head toward my room to hide my gear, as Ed went to the door.

As Ed opened the door, he saw a member of the military on the front porch, along with two other soldiers all in blue uniforms. Back in the drive way a truck and a car were both idling, and there were a good half dozen more soldiers sitting in the bed of the truck. Something wasn't right. Ed knew they must be after Dominic.

"Greetings Full Metal Alchemist, I am Lt. Schwartz, and I've been ordered to search this premises for an unknown man. We've heard reports that say that they saw a strange man approach this place. We also found this under an Oak tree that had been carved as a grave, not far from here." The lieutenant held out the mangled uniform.

"It is obvious that some sort of soldier of some kind is roaming the country side near here, and from where he is from we don't know. But it is suspected by those in Central that this man might be from the other world, the same one that nearly succeeded in invading us last year." He continued.

"We will tear this place apart looking for him, however you have my assurances that he will not be harmed, as General Mustang wants him alive so that he can be questioned. This can either be civil and quick, or it can be dirty, so I'm asking you to please cooperate. I also expect that anything he had with him will also accompany him on the way out." He ended.

Ed pondered this for a moment, and the more he thought about it, the more he knew there was no point in really resisting, as the cat was already out of the proverbial bag. So he relented, and answered the officer.

"Alright, I'll hand him over, but Al and I are going with him to Central. I'll go tell the Gunnery Sergeant, the situation. We'll be back out in a few minutes." Ed responded reluctantly.

Ed came walking back into the house and walked into Winry's workshop. He saw me sitting on a bench looking at some of the artificial limbs lying around, when he sat down next to me to talk.

"Dom, the state military is here, and they know you're here. I've already said that you are going to go with them to Central, but I wanted you to know that Al and I will go with you. However when we get to Central, I don't know what exactly is going to happen to you, but I do know the general involved. His name is Roy Mustang, the flame alchemist. He is a wily bastard however he is at heart a good, albeit conniving man. I don't know what he wants with you, but whatever it is, must be important as it's not often that a squad of the elite forces are sent to retrieve a man." Ed explained.

"Alright Ed, I'll cooperate, however we need to hide my weapons and some of my other equipment and…" I said

"Dom, everything has to come with us. They will tear this place apart if they even suspect you are holding something back. So we will take everything. Please, I know why you don't want them to have access to these devices, but you can't allow for these people to possibly damage the livelihoods of the Rockbell's. General Mustang will probably question you, so don't even bother trying to lie, he is a pretty civil man, and if he sees that you genuinely aren't a threat then perhaps some sort of arrangement can be made." Ed interjected.

"Well, I guess my life is in your hands Edward. I'll go upstairs and get my gear, and get dressed. I want to those soldiers outside to know that I am experienced in combat and that I am only cooperating out of good of my hosts here." I said sternly.

"Dom, just don't do anything stupid. We will be in Central as soon as possible, so we may be a day late in getting there. Just keep your cool and go along with them." Ed answered.

I could tell Winry didn't like what was happening. I suspected it had more to do with Ed and Al leaving then anything to do with me per se, however she understood the sort of predicament I was in. So I made my way upstairs got dressed, packed all of my equipment, put on my body armor, helmet, and knee pads, and grabbed my sniper rifle, and Eric's M16 and slung them over my shoulders. I then saw Pinako coming up from the basement and I thanked her for her hospitality, and walked to the front door.

Outside I saw a trio of soldiers on the porch, as well as the rest of the squad in the bed of truck. They were all wearing blue uniforms and were armed, with the exception of the lieutenant with sub-machine guns. I made my way to the door, opened it and saluted the commanding officer.

"My name is Gunnery Sergeant Dominic Moreau of the United States Marine Corps. I am hereby your prisoner, and am cooperating out of the benefit to my hosts. I expect fair treatment, and will not resist. I will keep my equipment with me, but I will unload all of my weapons, and you may hold onto my ammunition until General Mustang decides what is to be done with me." I ended.

"Hmm… I suppose this is a reasonable arrangement. By the way I am Lt. Schwartz, and you will acknowledge my command." He said. "See to it that he is true to his word and his weapons are completely unloaded, and disabled." He told one of his men.

I then set my gear down, took all of my ammunition and my two hand grenades, and put them all in a sack the soldier was carrying. He looked a bit uncomfortable, but he obviously wasn't going to go against the judgment of his commander. The Lieutenant then gestured for me to follow him into the car, he held the door open for me, and I got in, he then hopped in behind me.

The car was a grey vehicle that looked like something out of an old gangster film. In the car, the two men who escorted the lieutenant got in the front, one was obviously the driver, and the other was a guard who had his machine gun sitting on his lap. The car lurched forward and made its way down the bumpy road. For the next 20 minutes, we drove in silence as we got into the small town of Resembool, and approached the train station. As I looked around, it seemed to me that this world looked a lot like pictures I'd seen from the era around the First World War. As we pulled up to the train station people in town started to come out of their houses and businesses to see what was going on, as it must have been fairly unusual to see the military in this neck of the woods.

As the car pulled up near the boarding platform, the soldiers all got off the truck, and positioned themselves so that they formed a wall that I assume was to prevent me from running. The Lieutenant then opened the door, the driver and the guard got out, and as I stepped out, they fell in behind me, as I followed the officer to the train car. I followed the officer up into the last train car, and was surprised to see the inside of the car was beautifully finished. The inside was almost entirely made of fine woods, and carvings and I could see someone who appeared to be an officer sitting at a desk. The man looked to be perhaps 30 years of age, and had jet black hair. The man gestured for me to take a seat in front of him, and Lt. Schwartz took a seat by the door linking this car to the rest of the train.

"I am General Mustang, high ranking officer of the State Military, and who might you be?" the General asked.

"I am Gunnery Sergeant Dominic Moreau, of the United States Marine Corps." I answered.

As we started talking, a felt a small lurch, and could feel the bumps of the railroad track as the train started to move.

"Hmm… I'm not aware of the United States, could you be amongst the same people who recently attacked us, or perhaps you are merely a spy for one of our neighbors?" Mustang prodded.

"Look, I'm lost, I don't even know where I am, or really even understand how I got here. All I know is that from what Edward Elric explained to me is that I'm likely stuck in this world permanently." I said.

"How did you get here? By chance did it involve a strange gate?" the general asked.

"Actually it did." So I explained the whole situation, the entire chain of events that led up to the military showing up, how my comrade was absorbed by the gate, and how I ended up in a farm field in the backwoods of Amestris. Lastly I explained how I ended up with the Elric brothers, and I ended the story.

"From your descriptions of the gate, I know you are telling me the truth. Few ever witness the gate, and come through unscathed. Obviously you unknowingly managed to evoke the gate, and the gate took your comrade as its toll to pass through, as is required by the fundamental law of equivalent exchange." The General Explained.

"You see, that gate that you passed through, typically imparts knowledge to an alchemist, although it also acts as a bridge between the world of alchemy, and your world. However in order to get anything from the gate, something of equal value must be given to the gate. In your case, it was your friend's life. The gate took him, and allowed you to pass through." He continued.

"Now in your case, I can see why Ed said you were essentially trapped here in the world of alchemy, because the only way to get through the gate to your world is with the sacrifice of another human being. Along with that sacrifice, is also the required understanding of alchemy to actually summon the gate. In your case, it was by a sheer chance that you happened into a situation where that alchemy knowledge was not required. After seeing the gate, I can tell by the look that you have no real desire to head back through, especially knowing what the price of admittance is. So now, the question becomes what to do with you?" The general appeared deep in thought, as he pondered this for a moment. I felt like a mouse being toyed with by a cat.

"Well, while it seems to me that you genuinely aren't really a threat, the political reality of the situation deems otherwise. There are those who would see you in such a way, and as such, I'll need to ensure that you are made to be a rumor, and not a fact. But what to do with you… Exactly what did you do up until the time of your journey through the gate, as well as what are the functions of the equipment you carry?" He asked. This was the point that I knew I was not just a pawn in the chess game of the bigger picture, but something more like a rook or knight. Someone whom people might kill to posses and control.

"I guess you want to know the full extent of my training. I was a marine recon sniper. I am an expert marksman, and was a part of the eyes and ears of the United States military when it was in ground combat." I explained. As I did this, I could see that ideas were running at break neck speed through the General's mind.

"As far as the weapons that I carry, this is the M24 sniper rifle with a night vision scope, and accurate at long distances, this other weapon I carry, is an M16 assault rifle fitted with a grenade launcher, capable of full automatic fire. I also have a few hand grenades which you are likely familiar with." I continued.

"For the equipment that I'm wearing, my helmet is bullet resistant, and can withstand small arms fire from things like pistols, or sub machine guns. My vest is called Dragon-Skin which is basically a bunch of armored scales which overlap each other. It will stop anything short of an anti-vehicle round." I then proceeded to go through everything in my ruck sack, and I could see a faint smirk starting to grow on the General's face. He looked like that child who got exactly what he wanted for Christmas. The General smiled.

"I guess fate has dropped a gift into my hands. You see, the situation in the country isn't as stable as it first appears to be. A few years back, the military dictator of this country died and since then the nation has been on the precipice of destabilizing, in particular after the Thule Society nearly succeeded in their invasion. However there are those who are a threat to this nation in this time of vulnerability, either in the form of rogue alchemists who are trying to practice forbidden acts like Human transmutation, or from within the government and the military. You seem like you could be the exact person I've been looking for to remove these threats." He explained.

"It's not until now that this country is finally maturing into a form that will last, as opposed to generational shifts in military dictatorships, and non-stop war with our neighbors. If there is one thing that needs to happen, it is to ensure that certain people cannot undermine the current government in its time of weakness, now that things have finally began to settle down after the brutal war in the neighboring nation of Ishbal, and I aim to make sure that history does not repeat itself." The General continued.

"I want you to serve under me. To act as my scalpel to remove the cancer that plagues this country. If we are to have any lasting peace, this must be done soon, and it must be done in a manner that makes it difficult for my enemies to link me to actions that I will have you perform. Would you be willing to do serve me?" The General asked.

"Do I have a choice? Ed told me you were a conniving bastard, but I didn't really understand what he meant until now. Given the situation I guess I'll have to serve, but before I commit to anything I want to talk to the Elric brothers." I said.

"Good. That can be done, I'll ensure that when we get to Central you have a chance to speak with the brothers about your situation. Until then however, I'd like you to join me for lunch." The General replied.

So as the train rattled down the track, I found myself not that hungry when lunch was brought out. The thought of killing is not something that I look forward to, in particular when it's directly related to the politics of an unknown country, in an unknown world. I guess some things never change regardless of where what world one is in. I simply looked out the window at the passing country side thinking "What have I gotten myself into."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_March 22, 12:30am Central_

It wasn't until around midnight that we had finally arrived in Central, and I honestly felt like crap. I'm a professional soldier, a defender of America, not a hit man for a high ranking officer. I really needed to talk to Ed and Al, they sounded like they might know how to deal with this.

When the train finally screeched a halt, I was escorted by Mustang and Lt. Schwartz, to another vehicle and we drove through the cobblestone streets of what might have been a large German town. I hadn't really spoken to Mustang much after he had largely forced me into the situation after about 10 minutes of driving the car stopped at a mansion like building not far from what appeared to be government buildings. I was escorted out, and Mustang personally led me to my quarters where I would be staying. After getting myself unpacked, Mustang let me know that I was expected to be downstairs in his office at 0800 hours. With that said, Mustang left, and I fell asleep in my room.

My alarm started ringing at 7am that morning, and I felt hung over with sleepiness after only getting around 5 or so hours of sleep. I got up and walked over to my bathroom and got myself cleaned up. I heard a knock at the door, and I cracked it open to see who it was. It was Mustang.

"Here's your new uniform. I will take your camouflaged one, and have it cleaned and maintained, as you will likely need it for some of your future duties. Be down in my office in 20 minutes and don't be late, and make sure to bring all of your equipment with you.." Mustang said, and with that he left.

The uniform he gave me was in the similar fashion to the rest of the uniforms with blue overcoat, and the like. Surprisingly the uniform fit pretty well, considering that Mustang hadn't really had a chance to measure me up. I guess that man really does have an eye for detail. After getting dressed I made my way down the hallway and to his office. The building was remarkably ornate. Fancy woodworking and chandeliers were everywhere. As I headed down the stairs into the main atrium by the entrance way, I saw two familiar, albeit bedraggled looking faces.

"Hey Ed, Al how was your trip?" I said to them as I reached the lobby at the bottom of the stairs.

"Not that bad, we just got to Central about an hour ago." said Al.

"So what's with the new outfit?" asked Ed in a snide voice.

"What do you think. I'm in the State Military now. Not that I really had a choice, but it seemed like the only real option I had." I answered.

"Yep, that's what I thought. The same thing happened to Al and I a long time ago when we were both state alchemists. All I can really say to help you out though is to just try to do the right thing. You can usually trust General Mustang to have the correct goal in his actions, but he's pretty much driven by the "ends justify the means" philosophy. So you be careful. He's out for himself as much he's out for the good of everyone else." Ed warned.

"I'll take that advice in stride. I've got to meet the General in about 5 minutes. So I'll talk to you guys as soon as my business with him is done." I answered.

I left the two young men behind and proceeded to the General's office with all of my equipment in tow. I got to the General's office and he had Lt. Schwartz close the door behind me.

"Now we can talk about your future, more or less. I know why Ed and Al are here, and I understand why you are uncomfortable. But don't be too concerned, Ed and Al will be helping you in what I will be asking you to do. " Mustang said.

"First off, I will be holding on to some of your equipment. It is easy for me to ensure that they are safely stored away. If what you've said to me is true about your capabilities, then we need to ensure that they are kept far from prying eyes. Secondly, I want to know more about you. What kind of education you posses, everything in short. I want to know you like your mother knows you. Lastly, I want you to learn all there is about Amestrian society. You are not familiar with alchemy, and you are not familiar with cultural differences here, as well as our history. You will need to be or you will not be able to blend in and perform your mission." He continued.

At this, I explained to him in length most of my history, from my child hood all the way to my decision to join the military. I also explained how I held a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and how it was funded by my decision to go into the Marines. I then went on for about another 2 hours about my training history, and what that involved. Jumping out of aircraft, survival training, covert operations, and everything else I could think of. After I got to the point where I couldn't really think of anything else, Mustang cut me off.

"Excellent. You really do have a breadth of knowledge that is beyond what any soldier in my military has short of sanctioned state alchemists. I want you to learn everything you can about Amestris, and I mean everything. If you are capable of alchemy, I want to know it as soon as possible, because the gate usually imparts knowledge to those who enter it, so I'm going to have Ed and Al test you just in case it is possible. However, you will need to learn a lot about the culture and history of Amestris if you are to be able to serve at your fullest." Mustang said.

"Now, Schwartz, can you please invite Ed and Al inside." Mustang ordered.

About 5 minutes later, Ed and Al came in. Al looked his usual mellow and happy self, but I could tell Ed didn't like Mustang a whole lot.

"Ed and Al, I want you to perform some basic alchemy, something that is simple but a demonstration of what you guys can do." Mustang said.

With that Ed reluctantly reshaped his metal arm into a blade, and I nearly dropped over. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. His steel arm, just turned into a blade. Al proceeded to break a glass and reconstruct it, which I found to be mind boggling. All the while, they were doing this, it felt like bugs were crawling on me.

"What's the matter Dom you seem distracted?" Al asked.

"I don't know. It's like I can feel when you guys perform alchemy. Like I can sense the presence of it." I explained.

"Are you serious?" Ed asked.

"Yeah I am." I answered.

Mustang was listening intently, and his face broke out into a smile. He looked as giddy as a school girl.

"Dominic, are you really telling me you can feel the presence of alchemy?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah I'm saying that, and it's damn irritating too. It feels like a bug is crawling on me in the direction of the alchemist, it's that ticklish feeling, and it only gets stronger the closer I am to the source." I answered.

"We need to test this. I'll have Schwartz observe and judge. Ed go out of my office and do a decent sized transmutation, nothing complex but something that takes a bit of effort." Mustang asked.

"Ok I'll do it…" Ed grumbled, I could tell he didn't like having to do tricks for the General.

Lt. Schwartz followed him out the door, and Ed made his way outside, and proceeded to walk around the building, before stopping and transmuting a large rock in the garden into small statue. As soon as Ed did this, I could sense it, and I pointed in the direction of the feeling, and proceeded to walk in the direction of the source. Al and General Mustang followed, and were flabbergasted when I was able to find Ed outside.

"Amazing, Dominic. I had no expectation that you'd actually be capable of this." Mustang said.

"Well, the feeling wasn't very strong, probably only as strong as when Al reconstructed the broken glass." I replied.

"That makes some sense, perhaps your sense is directly related to the intensity of the alchemic reaction. If the transmutation is large perhaps you can feel it from farther away. Sort of like how a loud noise can carry a greater distance." Al quipped in.

"Hmm… interesting. So I guess the gate did give you something of a souvenir from your passage through." Mustang said.

"I guess so." I answered.

"Well, let's head back in, now that I know you can sense the presence of alchemists, I think that makes you even more valuable to the pressing task at hand." Mustang continued.

So we all walked back into the building and settled into Mustang's office. Mustang drew his curtains shut, closed his door, and told us to come close as to minimize the chance of us being overheard.

"Here is the situation. The fuehrer at the time of his demise had quite a few pet projects of his running in complete secrecy at labs all over Amestris. A significant number of these my people, including the Elric brother have managed to deal with, but we suspect that a few of these roaches have managed to scurry back under cover. One of these roaches was involved with Shou Tucker at laboratory five. As you are unaware, Shou Tucker specialized in chimeras which in alchemic terms, refers to the merging of animals and human beings. Anyway, this other alchemist was a specialist in a related field, but one with much more practical military application. Rather than try to merge humans with animals, he was attempting to use alchemy to physically alter the human body with the goal of creating assassins. This researcher we suspect succeeded, but the exact details of what he managed to accomplish are only vaguely known, as we did manage to capture this sick bastard, and interrogate him. Unfortunately before we could get more out him, he hanged himself in his cell using his sheets from his bed." Mustang Explained.

"From what know these assassins are functionally similar to the Ishbalan named Scar. In other words they have the capability to deconstruct anything and anyone through the transmutation circles imprinted on their hands. Now this wouldn't be such a big deal in normal circumstances if all we were dealing with were a half dozen or so men that could deconstruct things, hell there are a few alchemists that can do that almost as well as Scar could, but the real problem is that these assassins were also modified mentally. That researcher's real focus was on using alchemy to alter the mental states of people, such as changing memories, erasing memories, and other vile things of that nature. Thus using these techniques the "Thought Alchemist" was able to program his assassins to do some sort of mission. What we suspect is that given the capabilities of the "Thought Alchemist" that these assassins likely have been given a limited form of his thought alteration alchemy." Mustang shuddered.

"Imagine the danger these killers could pose to this nation. Should one of them manage to get in close enough to someone in a high area of authority, they might be able to direct that person to do whatever the bidding was of their programmer. I want you Dominic to stop them and to kill anyone who might be compromised by them. I was initially going to involve the Elrics in actually sniffing them out, but given your particular gift, you should be able to hunt them down. However, I cannot allow you to directly contact me anymore, and I'm going to have the Elric brothers act as go-betweens so that you can communicate with me on the status of the mission. Everything you might require will be provided you, food, money, what equipment we have, anything. However let it be known that if you are captured, or if you are ever positively identified, that I will offer you no protection, in all likelihood you will probably end up in front of a firing squad, or at the least in a dank cell somewhere. Do you accept this mission?" Asked Mustang.

"I guess I don't have a choice, but when I'm done doing this dirty work, am I still going to be under your thumb? Also, why not use the Elric brothers?" I replied

"As for the first question, you will be under my thumb. However, you will be allowed more freedoms as well as being financially taken care of. Remember on the train I told you that you were my scalpel. You are my tool, thus you belong to me, however I do take very good care of my tools, and if you do as asked then perhaps you might have a choice next time. As for why you are tasked with this, it's simply because the Elrics are well known. This is a cloak and dagger game, and the Elric brothers simply stick out too much." Mustang said smugly.

"Anyway, back to business, I have these reports in that several strange murders and disappearances in the past few weeks. Some of these bear the hallmark of perhaps one of these assassins. I want you to look into this. I suspect that your sense of "alchemy smell" will probably get stronger as you use it, and who knows what else the gate may have endowed you with. In the mean time, I am going to assign you a codename that any of my contacts will know you as. This way should I need to contact you; you will know that it is really me. You will be henceforth known as "Hunter" by them. As for the Elric brothers, you will be tasked by me as Mr. Moreau's handlers. You two will instruct him on every thing from banking, to riding the trolley, as well as test him to see if he has any other relevant skills that the gate may have granted him." Continued Mustang.

Mustang then took out a key and removed a painting from the wall. He inserted the key and opened the hidden door. Inside he removed a small briefcase that had a combination lock on the outside.

"Inside this briefcase is a moderate sum of money, your deed to your safe house, identification papers, as well as information pertaining to the mission at hand. Memorize the information, and master your false identity. Also be sure to understand the banking information, as that will be your method of acquiring funding." Mustang glanced at his watch. "Schwartz is already at your safe house with all of your equipment. As we speak right now, the proper modifications are being made to the house so that it can be made more secure. It should be prepared by the time of your arrival. Should you need any other assistance be sure to contact the Elrics, who will be living in an apartment on the other side of Central. Here is the combination to the briefcase and your home address. I expect to hear from you in a few weeks, to know what kind of progress has been made." Mustang finished.

With that Mustang saluted me, and sent me on my way with the Elric brothers. We made our way across town, until I got to a rather ordinary appearing townhouse. I made my up the stairs, and when I approached the landing Lt. Schwartz opened the door and let me in.

The townhouse was actually fairly nice, it was already furnished, and while a bit dated it did have all the amenities.

"Please come this way." Schwartz directed, as we followed him downstairs into the basement.

In the basement, at the bottom of the staircase it appeared to just be a standard storage room with a few shelves, the furnace and whatnot; however Schwartz led us over to one of the walls, and removed a brick. Revealed behind the brick was a combination lock, and Schwartz quickly turned out the combination, and I heard a click. A three foot wide by six foot tall section of the wall came backwards into what would have previously been though solid earth revealing a small ten by ten foot chamber where all of my equipment was located as well as an assortment of weapons.

"This is your secure storage room. On this sheet of paper is the combination for the lock. Memorize it, and then burn it. Also on my orders you are to never remove that briefcase from that room. Place it in the room now please." He said sternly.

"Some personal advice Mr. Moreau. Do not trust anyone other than those whom you see here in this room. Not only does your life depend upon it, but also the lives of everyone else in here as well. I will be making weekly trips here on Saturday mornings, to drop off orders. Do not attempt to talk to me, as I will be disguised as a courier. I will knock on your door, and say "Is Mrs. Hunter available?" you in turn will answer "Not at the moment, but I can hold the package." If you do not here the password, you will not open the door. Keep your blinds closed at all hours, which will be believable, as you are known to the outside world as you work the night shift at the local police office. Your captain there is a contact of ours and can be trusted. He will arrange for you to tour the crime scenes as he is the chief investigator of the recent murders, however he does not know what your real mission is. He simply thinks you are a member of the military investigating the murders. Do not blow your cover. With that, I wish you good luck on your mission." Schwartz then saluted me and walked back upstairs and left through the front door.

"This is some serious business Dom." Ed said to me. "Al and I will do everything we can to assist you, but we can understand why Mustang had gone through these lengths to ensure secrecy. Here is our address here in Central." He handed me a slip of paper. "Tomorrow we'll meet you at the restaurant up the street at 12pm. We'll then head out on the town so you can learn to blend in, and then afterward we're going to test your alchemic ability to see exactly what sort of tricks the gate might have given you. Lastly, I want you to know how dangerous these assassins you are hunting really are. We don't know that much about them, so I want you to stay on your guard constantly. I have a feeling that you are really being used for bait, because perhaps these assassins tend to only pursue and kill those who are a direct threat to their mission. I think that is where you should check first when you have the opportunity to look at the backgrounds of the victims when you head out to your new job. With that said, I want you to look after yourself. These next few weeks could get pretty dangerous. Well, we've got to go, so we'll see you tomorrow." With that Ed and Al left.

I closed up my secret chamber replaced the brick hiding the combination lock and door handle, and made my upstairs and got settled in for the night. The only thought running through my head the whole while was that this seemed like it could have made a good plot of a James Bond movie. With that in mind I fell asleep.


End file.
